File 23992 · FY 2025
Virginia coast, Navy cluster
Off the Virginia coast, United States · Region, not street
Opened 9/9/2026
Ledger illustration of the file — not a photograph of the object. Ledger illustration of the report. Lights over water at dusk. — Night Ledger illustration of the file
Standing
Unidentified
On the public record, and still open. A claim, paper, or film — not a finding that it was ours, and not a finding that it was not.
What was claimed
AARO’s FY 2025 annual report logged a Navy encounter with a large number of UAP off the Virginia coast, among 319 new reports that year.
What is on the record
This file is a working record — a report, not a verdict. Official paper, if any, is linked where we have it.
AARO’s fiscal year 2025 annual report, discussed publicly in July 2026, said the office had logged 319 new UAP reports, bringing holdings to 1,870, and described a Navy encounter with on the order of a hundred unidentified objects off the Virginia coast. Most of the year’s cases were resolved as mundane. A few involved avionics interference. The Virginia cluster was not identified as extraterrestrial in the report.
A count in an annual paper. This catalogue files the paper’s own claim, not a fleet.
Could this have been ours?
The known sky, that night.
The station, the trains, and the rest of the known sky were already there. Hold the claim next to them.
1998 —
International Space Station
A bright, steady moving star. A few minutes to cross. No strobe. Occupied since 2000. NASA publishes the pass times. Not unidentified.
2019 —
Starlink trains
A line of equally spaced lights after a launch. The most common string of orbs in current reports. A satellite deployment, not a formation of craft.
Always
Venus and the bright planets
A fixed brilliant point. Does not streak. Does not hover over a street then leave. Often the first misread light in a rural report.
Always
Aircraft, balloons, meteors
Landing lights, flares, lanterns, reentries, fireballs. They are on the known sky. They do not close a file by themselves — they are what a serious look has to hold the claim against.
Orbit · Space — the desks for lights that are already named.
Sources
Paper on this file
Official or public documents that belong with this case — not a verdict.
8 May 2026 — rolling
PURSUE portal, war.gov/UFO
U.S. Department of War · United States
The Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters opened a public portal of declassified files. Five tranches through August 2026. The portal is paper, not a recovered craft.
FY 2025 (public 2026)
AARO annual report, FY 2025
All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office · United States
AARO’s FY 2025 report counted 319 new UAP reports and 1,870 holdings. Most of the new cases were resolved as mundane. It did not present recovered non-human material.
Related files
Same craft, same place, same years. A neighbor in the catalogue — not a conclusion.
Same craft · Same country · Same years · 10 September 2026, night
Mysterious lights over the Las Vegas valley
Las Vegas, Nevada · United States
Unidentified
KLAS aired a viewer video of sparkling lights hovering in the Las Vegas night sky on 10 September.
Same craft · Same country · Same years · 6 September 2026, noon
Four objects after a military flyby, Central California
Central California · United States
Unidentified
A noon post from central California described four objects after military aircraft passed, then all of them gone.
Same craft · Same country · Same years · September 5, 2026, shortly before sunset
Shimmering Cluster of Lights Over Maitland, Florida
Maitland, Florida · United States
Unidentified
Multiple residents observed and filmed a cluster of mysterious shimmering, sparkling lights in the sky that appeared shortly before sunset.
Same craft · Same country · Same years · August 2026
Multi-light object, Coeur d’Alene
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho · United States
Unidentified
A lake-country report described a large multi-light object that hovered, then dropped behind the trees.
Same craft · Same country · Same years · August 2026
Lights over the Las Vegas valley
Las Vegas, Nevada · United States
Unidentified
Valley posts described pale lights hovering on the desert edge of the city, away from the Strip.
Same craft · Same country · Same years · August 2026
Cluster of six orange lights, Fresno
Fresno, California · United States
Unidentified
A valley-city report described six solid orange lights clustered over Fresno, not aircraft strobes.